


I Can Only Imagine

by fistitout



Category: Z-O-M-B-I-E-S (2018)
Genre: F/M, Superhero!AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-04-16
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-01-15 04:47:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18491659
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fistitout/pseuds/fistitout
Summary: Addison Davis has everything she could ask for—awesome friends and amazing parents to start with. She's mastered the art of high school in only two years and knew when to stand her ground and when to back off. Everything gets turned upside down after she tries to do a good deed. Now her life and the life of everyone in Seabrook is in her hands.





	1. Chapter 1

My name is Addison Davis. I'm a junior at Seabrook High, sixteen years old. I live with my mom, who's the mayor of Seabrook, and my dad, who's the chief of police.

Way back when I was a freshman, I had dreams of being a cheerleader. But cheerleaders are dicks so screw that dream. Besides, I had better things to do than parade myself around the school with snooty Aceys in miniskirts, thinking I was better than everyone.

My story starts on the first day of junior year.

If I was a cheerleader—like I had once dreamed of—I wouldn't have to worry about picking a new outfit everyday because cheerleaders had to wear their uniforms daily. But alas, I wasn't, so I woke up and got dressed for the first day, grabbed my backpack and headed downstairs for breakfast. To no surprise, my best friend is already eating breakfast with my parents, like usual.

Zed Necrodopolus, eighteen, also a junior at Seabrook High. He spends at least sixty percent of his free time at my house, eating my food, and being a complete waste of space. I too spend sixty percent of my free time at his house, eating his food, and being a complete waste of time. It's how we roll.

We met freshman year. Zed was rejected from football, and I was rejected from cheerleading. We were moping at the park and ran into each other. Zed was skateboarding and showed me the basics. Then we met up after school the next day, and we talked and Zed showed me more skateboarding tricks. We kept hanging out and became best friends within the next few days.

We've been best friends for three years. It took the two initial months of our friendship to convince both of our parents that we weren't dating. As if a boy and a girl couldn't be friends without dating.

Zed didn't care what people thought of him. He was chill like that. He liked to be unproblematic, dressed plainly (usually jeans and a hoodie). Occasionally, he would get in trouble but it was usually for something stupid like a dress code violation or something.

Aside from that, Zed was awesome. He was funny and did stupid shit with me, and on top of that he was genuinely really sweet and caring. Which was why my parents still let me hang around him. As the daughter of the mayor _and_ chief of police, I spent a lot of time under public scrutiny (in the newspaper, for all the old people). They were very particular about my friends but let me keep Zed.

When Zed saw me, he grinned and waved like an excited puppy. "Good morning Addy! First day of school!"

"Kill me now," I joked as I walked into the kitchen.

Mom looked over at me and immediately shook her head. "Go back and change, you're not wearing that."

"Don't be such a prude, Mom. It's a tee shirt and jeans." I told her.

"I'm seeing way too much stomach, young lady."

"Your mother is right, Addison," Dad agreed.

I looked at Zed for some help. For some reason, he always managed to get my parents to ease up on whatever they were lecturing me about. "It's junior year, let her live a little," Zed said. "She won't get in trouble for wearing that."

"She can't show her midriff," Mom pointed out.

"I'll wear a jacket," I suggested. "But this outfit is way too cute to not be worn. Especially on the first day."

"And if worse comes to worse, you can have my hoodie, and cover up completely. Though your outfit _is_ really cute."

"See! Zed agrees! Just let me wear it."

Mom and Dad exchanged a look, having a silent argument about my outfit. I already knew that, because of Zed, they were reconsidering and would probably let me leave (with a jacket).

"Fine, but go get the jacket you plan on wearing," Mom said.

I groaned but complied, heading back upstairs to grab my favorite jean jacket and pulling it on before heading back for breakfast. I stopped in front of my parents for a second, waiting for my mom to nod and tell me it was better. I went and poured myself a bowl of cereal, taking the seat next to Zed.

"Excited for your first day of junior year?" Mom asked.

"Absolutely," Zed stated. "Two years then we're out of here! That's something to celebrate!"

I couldn't help but laugh. Zed had been looking forward to graduation since freshman year, especially after all the instances he'd been publicly humiliated by annoying football players or cheerleaders.

"Then it's off to college," I said.

"Skateboards, fresh air, and no more Seabrook. The dream." Zed said wistfully. He looked at my mom and added, "No offense. I know how hard you work to make Seabrook awesome."

Mom held her hands up, completely understanding. "Not offended. I know how much you absolutely despise Seabrook."

"Everyone's so snooty," I said, my nose wrinkled in disgust.

"Don't get all people-hating now. We have to see these jerks today."

Zed was right, of course. The people in Seabrook sucked, but no one was worse than the kids in high school. "Whatever, I can't wait to graduate and get my ass into college."

"Addison," Dad said warningly.

I held my hands up in defense. Zed said to me, "Hurry up, Addy. We gotta get going if we wanna get all the best seats and the best lockers and hang out with our friends."

"Don't get your panties in a twist, I'm almost finished," I said, shoveling more cereal into my mouth.

Zed kept up conversation with my parents while I finished eating. I put my dishes away before I actually finished, went back to the kitchen and tugged on Zed's arm. "We gotta go if we don't wanna be late," I said.

Zed went and put his dishes away in the kitchen. I went around the table, giving each of my parents a hug. "Bye, see you later," I told them.

"Have a good day, Honey," Mom said.

"Don't get into any trouble," Dad warned.

"I won't, see you guys later."

They walked Zed and I to the door. I grabbed my backpack and Zed pulled his from the hook, then passed me my skateboard.

Mine was in worse shape than Zed's because of all the stupid things we'd done over the summer. On a more positive note, I learned how to kickflip over a fire hydrant. And on a not so positive note, I broke my arm in a few places and got a bad concussion learning that trick. Which is why I now have to wear all the protective padding.

That didn't mean that Zed's board was nice in the slightest. He'd been skating since he was nine, so it was way worse for wear. Mine had just been through a lot in a short amount of time and was currently being held together by superglue, duct tape, and that stuff that dad's keep in their garage to fix holes in walls.

Once we got to school, we went straight to the school store. There was still a half hour until the first bell and the only people already there were freshmen, so we got our lockers pretty easily. As always, they were in between the science and the math hallways, close enough to our home rooms and not too far from the library. The perfect lockers.

I put my board in the bottom then closed it, setting up my lock. Zed was leaning against his own locker, on his phone. I leaned over and saw he was texting Eliza.

"Where is she?"

"Sleeping," Zed hummed. "Bonzo and Bree are in the library though. Let's go."

Zed grabbed me by my jacket sleeve and pulled me toward the library. It took a minute to spot two of our friends, Bree and Bonzo. I met Bree Jefferson the first day of freshman year. We both had tried out for cheerleading and neither of us made it because of the stuck up, snooty Aceys. And James Izaki—aka Bonzo—had been Zed's best friend since they were kids. When Zed and I became friends, his friends became mine and my one friend became his. And then Bree asked Bonzo out. And now they've been dating for two and a half years.

Bonzo and Bree had taken the chairs and couches near the back as their own spot, which meant within the week it'd be _our_ spot to hang out. Her and Bonzo were chilling on the couch when we showed up.

"Addison!" Bree exclaimed excitedly, jumping up to greet me. "I haven't seen you in forever!"

I laughed at my other best friend's excitement. "That's not true. You're the one who drove me to the hospital."

"That was back in June!"

"I didn't tell you to go to the Bahamas. That was your decision." I joked.

Bree gasped excitedly. "I brought you gifts!" She exclaimed. She looked at Zed and added, "Both of you! I'll bring them tomorrow, I swear."

"Oh sweet, I love presents," Zed said. He looked at Bonzo and asked, "What'd she get you?"

Bonzo shrugged. "Her parents flew me out for the last two weeks. It was awesome!"

Zed laughed; he sat down on the couch across from Bonzo and I sat next to him. "Must be nice hanging out in the Bahamas with your girlfriend."

"Maybe try getting a girlfriend first," I joked.

Zed pouted at that. "You're the only single straight girl who wants to talk to me."

"I wonder why? Maybe 'cause you're lame."

Zed stuck his tongue out at me in retaliation.

If you remember from before, I said that my parents thought I was dating Zed and that I made it clear that I wasn't interested in Zed. And if you're wondering why, let me clarify. Yes, Zed is cute. Okay, he's more than cute. He's very hot and attractive, with his cute little nose and his hair always kind of messy but still really hot. And he was tall and muscular and athletic, he skateboarded so he was obviously the kind of cool where he didn't care what other people said.

What was I saying?

Oh, why I'm not dating Zed. Simply because he never seemed to be interested. Besides, we're already best friends. It'd suck to lose my favorite best friend over some stupid relationship.

It didn't matter. According to Eliza, we acted couple-like. I didn't do anything, I was just hanging out with my best friend. To others, always being around each other, having sleepovers, arms around each other, all of that was too couple-esque for their simple minds. Whatever.

We hung out in the library for another twenty-ish minutes. Eliza Scythes showed up a few minutes before the bell, still fixing her hair because she obviously overslept. It was very much in her character to be late and unprepared, even though she was probably the smartest and most well-equipped person I knew. Somehow, no matter how late or unprepared she was, she always knew what to do and how to do it, or had what you needed.

When Eliza came to school, we were already out of the library and on our way to home room. We had run into her in the hallway, to which she greeted us with, "Morning Losers."

"Nice to see you too, Sleep Beauty," Zed joked. "Shirt all crumpled and hair frizzy. What a queen."

Eliza scowled at him. "Fuck you."

Zed just laughed her off. He snuck the arm the wasn't around my shoulder over hers, pulling Eliza into his side. "Come on babes, let's head to class and get this year started so it can be over already."

That was how the day started. I never would have guessed how much of a turn it was about to take and how royally fucked I was after it.


	2. Chapter 2

The first day of school was boring. All we got were syllabuses and stupid ice breakers. Some classes gave us homework, which was more stupid ice breakers or getting our supplies. Finally, the only good part of the day came: lunch. Our school was small enough to have everyone eat during the same period, and all fit in the cafeteria.

Bree and Bonzo brought lunch from home, so they snagged us the best table: in the back, under cheap fluorescent lights and by the trash cans. No one would bother us there, and it was fairly close to the lunch lines which meant we got all the food that was left first.

We spent a good amount of time catching up from the summer. Eliza told us the story about her ten week program at MIT, which was a huge accomplishment considering how selective the program had been.

Bree showed us pictures from her vacation, which were awesome. I also shared picture from the summer—most of them were of me and Zed in the hospital, being stupid. Zed had drawn a penis in invisible ink on my cast, which I captured magically on camera.

"You guys are so stupid," Eliza said. "I'm not even surprised you broke your arm."

"And got a concussion," Bonzo added. "Though I thought it'd be Zed before Addison."

"Addison caught the stupid," Eliza joked. It was funny, trust me. I wasn't offended by it because it was true that I had adopted a lot of Zed's personality traits. And he had adopted mine.

Our fun was spoiled by the annoying cheerleaders—and when I say cheerleaders I mean the leaders of the cheer team. They were called the Aceys: Lacey, Stacey, and Tracey. My cousin Bucky used to be cheer captain. But he graduated the year before I joined the school and now Lacey was HBIC (head bitch in charge).

Lacey was the reason why I couldn't be a cheerleader. When I was a freshman and tried out for cheer, she didn't even give me a chance. She _hates_ me. It was one hundred percent because, when I was younger and Bucky thought he was straight, I ratted them out to Bucky's parents for being upstairs, behind closed doors. And I maybe have ruined a few of her clothes during some family dinners. In my defense, I was a _very_ annoying eleven year old. It didn't excuse her for holding a grudge over three years.

Then there was Tracey and Stacey. They hated me because Lacey hated me. It was the same reason why Zed hated the Aceys. It was the power of best friendship.

Lacey decided to ruin our first day by walking past us on her way to her table at the very front of the cafeteria, sitting on a higher level than the rest of the tables. "I heard that Principal Lee fumigated the school, yet it doesn't explain why there are still dirty rats by the garbage." She was talking to her fellow Aceys but it was so obviously meant for us to hear. She then looked at us with her stupid smile and said, "My bad, it's just Addison and her friends."

"What's the difference?" Stacey mocked, making the Aceys laugh obnoxiously.

I rolled my eyes. "You know I heard the Sephora at the mall went out of business and I can see that it's because someone bought all the makeup and decided to use it all in one day."

"Except you didn't take into account that you're cheerleaders and now your makeup is all sweaty and running and you look like a clown pornstar," Zed added (best friend, right there).

"And yet we still look better than you," Lacey said (very sassy, might I add).

Zed gave a fake gasp. "Oh my god, I must be dreaming," he said sarcastically. Then looked at me and said. "Let's see if I can fly."

We both laughed as the Aceys rolled their eyes. "You guys are such preturds," Tracey stated.

"Aw thank you, I wish I could speak so highly of you," I said, feigning sympathy.

Whenever Lacey couldn't think of a comeback she'd just flip me off, which is exactly what she did before sashaying away, the Aceys following behind her.

I rolled my eyes and turned back to face my table of friends. "Nice work, Z," I complimented him.

"You gave me the perfect set up, Adds."

"They're the worst," Eliza grumbled.

"But they've got power," Bree pointed out. "They're popular and everyone loves them."

"More like fears them," Bonzo muttered.

I rolled my eyes, already sick of talking about the Aceys. "Moving on," she said. "Who wants to go with us to the park later?"

"Unlike you idiots, I have real classes and _already_ have homework," Eliza stated and we laughed a little. She was rude but made up for it by being funny.

"Who's to say you two won't get detention?" Bree pointed out.

"Ha ha," I deadpanned. "I promised my mom not to get in trouble until the _second_ week of school."

"I have made no such promise," Zed interjected. "You gonna come watch me kick Addison's ass?"

"How so?" Bonzo asked.

"Because I'm clearly a better boarder than her."

"Huh. You're really gonna take that, Addison?" Eliza asked.

I shrugged. "I was literally in the hospital with a broken arm _and_ concussion. I've got metal bolts holding my elbow together. I'm not better than him."

"What?" Bree asked, confused.

"She _shattered_ her arm, Bree," Zed said, his voice filling with excitement. "It was so gross! There was so much blood! The doctor had to reconstruct her elbow because of how bad all the tears and breaks were."

Eliza made a face. "That's disgusting."

"But also really cool."

I chuckled at Zed, glancing up at the wall clock. "The bell's gonna ring," I said, and a second later the clock hit 12:16 and the bell rung.

"Math?" Zed asked.

"Yep! See you guys later."

Zed linked his arm in mine, we threw our trash out then headed to math class.

* * *

Zed and I went to the park alone. We dumped our bags at my house then headed over. Zed showed off several new tricks he'd learned during the time I couldn't leave my house (broken arm). It was impressive, like everything he did.

He showed me one, joking around but still being extra cautious because of what had happened in June. Zed was incredibly noble and shit and had been blaming himself for the accident all summer. Technically it was a little bit his fault; he _did_ try to teach me how to kickflip over a fire hydrant. But _I_ was the one who didn't get enough air and tripped over the fire hydrant. And _I'm_ the one who landed on my arm and then slammed my head against the sidewalk (the concussion was way worse than the break in my opinion). Ergo, it is not Zed's fault.

Either way, he basically held my hand as we went through the new trick. It didn't go _horribly_. I didn't break any bones this time which was good. Zed and I both managed to fall on our asses several times. The sun hadn't even set before Zed had to leave. "I have to go get Zoey," he told her. "We're going out to dinner to meet Dad's new girlfriend. Yay."

"Sorry man," I sympathized. "But hey, maybe she'll be the one."

"Doubtful." Zed shook his head, clearly annoyed.

Zed's parents split up not long after his little sister, Zoey, was born. They lived on opposite sides of town; Zed and Zoey went back and forth between their parents house, doing weeks during the summer and weekends during the school year.

Zed was adamant that his parents would get back together. As his best friend, I had to be real with him. Sure there was a slight possibility. They did have two kids together. And they both agreed they were better apart: Zevon was a big family man and Nora had dreams and goals that she'd give anything to achieve. But she would always put her career before her kids and family (the whole reason why they lived with their dad).

"Bye Zed," I said. He gave me a hug then skated off, leaving the park.

I did some lazy skating for another hour. The more I stayed out the less I'd have to talk about the first day with my parents. The sky got darker as time went on. It was…suspiciously fast.

If I had been a tad bit smarter, I would've realized that the sun wasn't setting. Dark clouds were rolling in and in twenty minutes it was as dark as a death scene in a superhero movie. The rain started off soft and grew heavy at incredible speed.

"Shit," I muttered.

Skating in the rain was a bad idea. Slippery wheels meant less control and I could go sailing down a road and get seriously injured. That didn't mean my board couldn't be repurposed for the sake of shielding me from the rain, considering I left all my stuff at home.

I had gotten pretty far, walking quickly back toward my house, when I walked past a little girl wandering the sidewalks. She was soaking wet and looked scared. We weren't in a very populated part of town—it was a one-way street shaded by trees that went on for at least a half a mile.

I don't know what compelled me to go up to her. I wasn't keen on talking to strangers but this was a little girl, no older than seven, crying and scared.

"Hey," I said softly. "What's wrong?"

"I'm lost," she cried. "I can't find my mommy!" And she started crying harder.

I wasn't very good with crying kids (they made me nervous) but I knew what it was like to get lost. Everyone did. It was terrifying, thinking about your new life on your own and how awful it would be.

"Do you know your mommy's number? Maybe I can call her for you."

The little girl nodded. I pulled out my phone and put in the number as she said it. Unfortunately, with all the trees and being in the middle of nowhere, I had no signal. I held my phone up high, not caring much if it got wet, trying to get some bars.

The lightning came out of nowhere. Everything went white. It was like an intense and painful jolt going through my body, starting in my fingertips and coursing through me. I felt like I was on fire but freezing. My head buzzed as if someone had swung a bat at the back, effectively knocking me over and out.

* * *

Everything was moving slow. I was on the ground, staring up at the dark sky. The trees moved in the wind, but in slow motion, completely surrounded by weird blue and purple lines and pulses. Everything had a pulse, actually.

I sat up slowly, feeling like I was cutting through the air or swimming in thick water. Everything felt unpleasant and buzzing with life. I lifted my hand up to look at it, seeing it moving through the air with colorful swirls around my fingers and hands, all reacting as I moved.

The next time I blinked and opened my eyes, the world had gone back to normal. To my surprise, I didn't feel any pain. There was only a slight buzzing in my head. I sat up with a groan, looking around.

It was still pouring and my board was laying in the road in shambles, slightly on fire but crackling with electricity. My phone was fried. The little girl was gone too.

I tried to bend my arm and felt a sharp pain surge up my shoulder. I looked down and saw my elbow was red and bright blue and white. I reached out to touch it, but as I brought my fingers closer, I saw what looked like electric currents connecting from my elbow to my fingertips.

I gasped and immediately dropped my hand. "What the actual fuck," I muttered.

I was only sure of two things at this point: I had been hit by lightning, and I had no clue what was happening anymore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> dun dun DUUUUN! Yep, that's it for now. It's the end of the super special story preview week, where I give you chapters of stuff I'm working on. Don't worry, this story will return soon…probably when I finish a different story (let it be All The Strings Attached or literslly any other story). But until then, this is what you get. Unless I change my mind, of course.
> 
> Anyway, stay tuned. Be on the lookout for chapter three, sometime soon!


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yo yo I'm back with this sucker. I was waiting to finish the outline and the next chapter before posting an update here, so you can guess what's happened! I've got plot and conflicts and so many ideas. You're gonna love this!

Zed kept his window unlocked, which was good in my case. I climbed the tree by his bedroom window, leaning over and sliding the window open. It was a grand leap from the tree to his window, which is why I never went in through it. But it was an emergency and almost midnight.

Zed's lamp was on and he was sitting at his desk. He didn't even turn when I landed on the floor. He just pulled out his headphones and called downstairs, "Sorry Dad!" before his dad could even express any concern.

I rolled a little on his carpet. As I moved, purple and blue sparks and electric charges followed me up from the carpet. I let out a weird sort of whimper, quickly getting to my knees and staring wide-eyed at the singeing carpet.

Zed chose that moment to turn around. "What's—?" he asked, before he noticed the weird blue and purple sparks emanating from me that were destroying his carpet. His face was a mixture of shock and confusion and complete surprise.

"What the hell?" he breathed out.

We both shared equal looks of terror and confusion. Zed opened and closed his mouth several times, trying to find words. Finally, he said, "You're destroying my carpet," in a meek voice.

I quickly got to my feet. "Zed," I said in a shaken voice. "I-I don't know what's happening."

My buzzing head was starting to throb and my sinuses were sore like I had a cold, and I knew then that I was going to cry.

"Are…What's coming off of your body?" Zed asked. He got out of his chair and cautiously moved across his room to me. The closer he got, the more I noticed the hairs on his head starting to go haywire.

"Is it electricity?" he whispered.

"I don't know," I breathed out.

Zed reaches out to touch me. Before he could, sparks of blue and purple connected his fingers to my face. His face broke out into a giddy grin. "Holy shit!" he exclaimed excitedly.

I gave him an incredulous look. This was _not_ the time to get excited about things! I was spewing electricity from my body and I had no idea why!

The surge of anger I felt came out through the electricity coming off of me. There was a surge or spark or whatever from my arm that went and hit his open laptop. It flashed white and we both shouted and dropped to the ground as Zed's laptop had a power surge before completely 'exploding.'

Once his laptop calmed down from sparking and short-circuiting, it was made clear that Zed's dad was on his way up. Before either of us could say anything, I got up and lept out of the open window, completely missing the tree and falling two stories down to the grass. Surprising enough, it didn't even hurt.

I got up and on my feet, looking back up at Zed's window. He was looking down at me in complete shock. "Get up here!" he whispered harshly.

I climbed the trees again and Zed pulled me into his room. His door was closed now and his blankets were on the floor, covering the spots in his carpet I had destroyed. He opened his mouth to say something, by froze in even more shock.

"Oh my god, your hair!"

"What about my hair? Did I fry it?"

"It's white!"

" _What!_ "

"Your hair is white! Holy shit, why is your hair white?!"

I turned around and walked quickly to his mirror, not prepared for the sight I got. In addition to pure white hair, my clothes had holes and rips in them and all of my exposed skins had electric pulled swirling around them.

"Addison," Zed said slowly. "You have to tell me exactly what happened after I left today."

* * *

"You have superpowers!"

Zed wasn't the type of guy to know a bunch of information about comics and superheroes, but he did know more than I did. And it wasn't like there wasn't information to support this theory. I was no longer glowing by the time I finished my story but the fact remained that I had been glowing at one point and even destroyed Zed's laptop.

"This is so cool!" he said. "My best friend is a superhero."

"This is _not_ cool," I stated, crossing my arms. "I got electrocuted and now I can make electricity? It makes no sense."

"But it's happening," he pointed out. "What do we do now? What do they do in the movies? Oh! They try to figure out what powers they have!"

"Excuse me? I have school in the morning! I need to go home." I sighed. "Maybe this was all just a bad dream. Maybe none of this is really happening."

"Okay first, we don't have school tomorrow."

"Shut up!"

Zed rolled his eyes. "Second, we're both having the same dream?" he asked disbelieving.

"I'm going home."

"No way! It's almost midnight. You're staying here." Zed said. "Just…not in my bed. I don't wanna wake up with everything I own singed."

I rolled my eyes. "Hurtful."

Zed chuckled. He pulled his phone from the pocket of his sweatpants and started typing.

"What're you doing?"

He pulled his phone away before I could get close to it. "Don't touch! You're not destroying anymore of my electronics." Zed told me with a playful smile.

I pursed my lips. He was being funny and I was not having it today.

"I'm looking up what insulates electricity," he explained. "The air mattress is rubber…I'm sure we've got a tarp around here or something."

I raised an eyebrow. "You're gonna make me sleep with a tarp?"

"You'll destroy my blankets and sheets." Zed shrugged. "Only possible solution."

"Today sucked," I grumbled.

"At least we don't have school tomorrow."

The Wednesday during the first week of school was for select seniors and the freshman class for a silly retreat. Which meant me and Zed had a day to figure this all out before school Thursday, when we'd see other people and I'd have to stop glowing uncontrollably with white hair.

Yay.

* * *

Zevon said nothing when he woke Zed up the next morning and found me lying on the air mattress wrapped in a fire blanket. He just woke us up and said that he was leaving for work and to not sleep in too late.

Once he and Zoey were gone, Zed and I went right back to sleep. We usually slept in until the afternoon, and now especially with how late we were up last night. Sometime after he left Zed's room, I fell back asleep. Instead of having random, nonsense dreams, I dreamt that I was seven years old again.

I was back in ballet lessons. They were private, just me, my cousin Bucky, and our instructor, Madam de la Rosa. Bucky and I were on the barre, going from a plié to an arabesque, to a pirouette en dedans.

I could never get my pirouette right. Bucky was a natural at it, doing amazing, always in perfect formation with crisp moves. I would trip over my own feet and do a move too slow or too short. It was never good enough, never perfect.

The dream felt so real. I could hear Madam de la Rosa's haunting voice, cutting through the air as she commanded me, "Again," every time I slipped up.

The dream changed and I was sitting on the floor outside of her studio. I was taking off my pointe shoes, in perfect earshot of her conversation with my parents. "Sloppy. Undisciplined. She is unteachable."

I had thought my parents would go to my defense, saying that I could get better. Instead, my mom told Madam de la Rosa, "We'll pay double if you keep teaching her. We just need her out of the house."

That was soul crushing.

I woke up on the air mattress, trying hard to catch a breath that I couldn't find. My entire body was trapped under some gross, sticky substance. I squirmed and struggled to move, finally getting my arms up enough to see that the fire blanket I was using had melted, and was still melting, though it wasn't hot. In a few seconds, the blanket was gone and replaced by a thin watery substance.

I sat up and looked around me. "What the hell?"

"Go back to sleep," Zed complained in his sleep. I looked at him and he rolled over, his eyes widening at what he saw. He sat up, now wide awake. "What the hell did you do to my fire blanket?"

"I don't know!" I shouted, frustrated and confused. "What's happening to me?"

Zed got off of his bed and held his hand out for me. "First you gotta get out of that puddle," he told me.

"What if I hurt you?"

"I'm not _actually_ scared of you," he said with an eye roll. "Come on, we gotta figure this out."

I slowly took his hand, still afraid of electrocuting him. Luckily nothing happened aside from his hair slowly going haywire. Zed pulled me to my feet, moving away from the mess on the floor.

"I think it's pretty clear that your powers are way more than making sparkles," Zed said with a nod.

I pursued my lips. This was not a time for jokes. Zed laughed anyway and shook his head. "You're laughing on the inside, I know," he said. "We gotta do some research. Figure out your superpowers."

"I blew up your laptop."

"That's why we have cell phones, duh."

I rolled my eyes.

"I am gonna shower," Zed said. "You want a shower?"

"I think everything will get worse with water," I said, frightened.

Zed shrugged. "Your choice. I'll be quick."

Zed grabbed clothes and went from his room to the bathroom to go and showered. I walked over to his full body mirror, watching my reflection change. My hair was starting to stick up as if there had been a balloon rubbed against it to create static electricity. I stared hard at the mirror, completely confuzzled.

The mirror started doing weird things. I had to squint to see that the mirror was sweating, which is the only way I could describe the event. The mirror went from sweating to melting until it was a gross puddle sitting on the floor.

"Oh my god," I whined. I needed all of this to stop. I didn't _want_ to be a superhero. I barely enjoyed the life I already had and now I had superpowers.

' _Just stay calm_ ,' I told myself. If I could melt the mirror, I wonder what else I could do.

I thought back to what was going through my mind as the mirror was melting. I was confused and frustrated. ' _Maybe if I got more upset…_ '

I thought about everything that had ever upset me through my life and glared at the puddle. The dream I had had came to mind. I remember how I felt after that. I stopped crying and instead got so angry with myself for letting them get to me like that. I had wanted to prove them wrong so I spent _days_ perfecting a routine. And I _still_ slipped up, falling on my butt when I'd almost completed it successfully.

" _You'll get it next time_ ," Bucky had assured me.

I didn't want there to be a next time. I was sick of failing and destroyed all my ballet stuff after that. I didn't want to be mocked anymore.

When I looked back at the puddle, I saw it was now a concentrated ball of gas. So I made a melted glass into a gas, which was cool. Now to just fix Zed's mirror. But how…

There had to be a way to do whatever I had done without being angry or confused or just…overly emotional. Though I did learn from watching Captain Marvel that there is _nothing_ wrong with being a little emotional. I won't get into how awesome that movie was and how much I loved it.

' _Maybe if I think really hard about making it solid_ …'

Yes, it sounds stupid. But I concentrated on the ball of gas and focused on it turning solid, and it did. It went back to being a reflective glass. In ball form.

The glass fell to the ground and shattered into pieces. I squeaked and jumped away from the broken glass.

"What just broke?" Zed shouted from the bathroom.

"Nothing!"

"Addison!"

I laughed nervously. "Don't worry, just messing around!"

Zed didn't respond after that. I went over to his desk and picked up his phone. My fingerprint was already in it so it immediately unlocked and I went to my mom's contact and sent her a text ( _This is your daughter my phone is destroyed and I'm with Zed_ ).

To my surprise, his phone didn't explode. Which got me wondering if all that stuff from last night—when I was glowing and destroying electronics—was just a side effect of being hit by lightning. As I thought about it, though, I was feeling the same buzzing in my head like I had the night before. I blinked dizzily and saw the room fill with purple and blue and white beams and charges.

I looked at Zed's phone in my hand, seeing it glowing bright blue and white. The glow got brighter, traveling through the charger cord and going into his wall. I could hear buzzing vibrations getting steadily louder and louder, until there was the sound of something exploding.

I gasped and dropped Zed's phone. Everything went back to normal, except all the lights in Zed's bedroom and everything connected to an outlet started to burst. I screamed and dropped to the ground, covering my head as glass and sparks rained down.

Four seconds after everything stopped exploding, Zed came running into his room, dressed hastily and still dripping water. "What the hell Addison!" he exclaimed out of breath. "What're you doing?"

"I wanted to text my mom," I said sheepishly. I slowly stood up. "I didn't mean to…"

"Destroy our power grid?"

"Yeah."

Zed sighed. "Let me finish and then we can leave."

"Where are we going?" I asked.

Instead of answering me, Zed ran to the bathroom and came back a second later with his towel. "The forest," he answered, "where you _can't_ destroy my house."


	4. Chapter 4

I didn't tell Zed about the mirror incident. He just chalked it down to when I blew up his power grid and the mirror shattered.

I always kept some clothes in Zed's drawers, so I changed into them before we went out through the front door and I showed Zed what was left of my skateboard (which I'd left by the tree).

"You just had a shit day yesterday, huh," he noted.

Afterwards, he went back inside and I followed him, walking with him up the stairs. Zed to the attic and I stayed at the bottom, holding the stairs down until he came back down with another skateboard in his hands. "My first board," he explained as he handed it to me. "A gift from my mom after the divorce. She wanted to buy my love after the whole case."

"I thought she bought you a football?"

Zed nodded, leading us back down the stairs. "She was buying my affection. I got video games and toys. It was all very overwhelming."

I snorted a little. "You should've been happy, seeing as she's the only woman who would ever _want_ your love."

"Har har," he deadpanned. "You know you love me. I'm irresistible."

I laughed in his face at the idea. Zed rolled his eyes and opened the front door, holding it for me. "You say that as if you've had a girlfriend," I teased.

"It's your fault," he said accusingly. "Everyone thinks I'm into you—which I'm not—so they stay away."

"Keep telling yourself that."

Zed rolled his eyes. He stopped in the middle of the sidewalk, looking up at the sky for a moment before saying, "We forgot helmets. And elbow pads and knee pads."

"Uh hello, I leapt out of your second story window last night and landed on my feet, unscathed," I stated. "I think I'm good."

"Well some of us weren't hit by magical lightning last night," he said pointedly. "I'll be back."

Zed ran back to his house, leaving me on the sidewalk. I didn't even know where any of my gear was. I mean, I had my helmet when I went to his house last night but it's useless after a fall, especially the one I took last night. But my other stuff—my knee pads and my elbow pads—just vanished into thin air.

I couldn't dwell on it for too long because I heard someone calling me from across the street. I turned to look and saw Eliza. She was in her room (which had a street facing window), leaning out the opened window.

"I didn't think you guys would actually wake up today," she commented.

I gave her a shrug. "I need new gear," I said as an explanation.

"Cool. You gonna be here later?"

"I dunno, maybe."

Eliza nodded and closed her window, ending the conversation. It was all very random and weird, which was expected when we conversed from windows.

Zed came running out of his house to meet me on the sidewalk. He tightened the strap of his helmet, then smiled. " _Into the woods it's time to go. I hate to leave. I have to go. Into the woods it's time, and so I must begin my journey. Into the woods and through the trees to where I am expected ma'am. Into the woods to Grandmother's house. Into the woods to Grandmother's house_."

I snorted. "You're such a dork."

Zed just pinched my nose. "You love me. Let's go."

* * *

The woods were blocked off because of the storm last night that knocked down a bunch of trees. Zed and I were left to skate around town and hope to find a semi-secluded area, which ended up being the park uptown for all the rich kids.

See, Seabrook was divided into five different areas. Uptown, which was the most northern area of Seabrook, was were all the nice gated communities and country clubs were. They even had the expensive, organic grocery store and the shopping plaza with all the stores no normal person could afford.

Central Seabrook was just between Uptown and Downtown. It was the hood, point blank period. Don't worry, it wasn't the worst Seabrook had to offer. Central Seabrook was bad, but West Seabrook was worse. People could say they'd lock their car doors in Central, but in West Seabrook you don't even drive your nice cars there. You're gonna get robbed or caught in some gang shit or something.

There was Eastern Seabrook, which is where Zed and I lived. It intersected a bit with Uptown and Central. That was were all the suburbs were and little strip malls. I lived closer to Uptown because my mom was the mayor and her 'Mayor House' was up there. Zed was closer to Central Seabrook. Finally, there was Downtown. It was the business center, with big buildings and malls and an arena for sports and concerts.

We only got into the park because of my status, because that's how Uptown works: you have to be somebody to get places. There was a brush of trees near the western edge of the park that no one ever went to unless they were seven and did it on a dare, which is where we ended up.

"So we know you can create electricity," Zed started. "Can you fly?"

"Well let's see," I said, pretending to think. "I jumped out of your bedroom window last night and did not discover the ability to fly, so I'm gonna guess no."

Zed shot me a scowl and flipped me off. I just laughed at him. "What else?" I asked.

"Telepathy? Can you read my mind?"

"Unless you're thinking about how stupid this is, then no."

"Addy! Be serious."

I rolled my eyes but relented. I looked around the park, found a target and grabbed Zed's hand, pulling him into the grove of trees. He complained but followed me. Now was the perfect time to show off my newly discovered power of changing things state of matter.

The perfect target was obviously the little boulder under one of the trees. I snapped my fingers in his face and pointed at the rock. "Watch."

This time, I held out my hand toward the rock. I wasn't sure why, it just felt like an instinct, like something I had to do. Zed lets out a gasp that I brushed off. I focused all my energy into Turing the rock into liquid boulder.

"What the—"

I grinned at him. My hand moved on its own, my wrist curling upward and the liquid boulder turning into a hard, smooth ball. I looked at Zed and he was staring at me in complete awe and amazement.

"That—Wow."

"Cool, right?"

"Your hair," he pointed out, "is white. And your eyes."

"My eyes?"

"They're blue. Like, Thor from Avengers blue."

"Really?"

"I mean, not anymore," he shrugged. "How do you get your hair to change color?"

I shrugged. "Is it still white?"

"No, it's so weird," he said. "Can you do it again?"

"I don't know how."

"No-I meant the melting thing."

I smirked. "Not just melting," I said, "check it out."

Zed moves from next to me to closer to the rock. This time I held out my left arm and like magic, my hand twisted down and the solid rock turned into a dark gas. My other hand came up and the gas concentrated into a funnel, something that I didn't know I was capable of this morning. It swirled up into the air as I lifted my arms up. The gas cloud started sparking with electricity and I could feel my body coursing with more energy. My vision started to tint blue and purple; if I looked around, I could see electricity sparking through everything, usually bright purple but white and blue in living things.

Zed's voice hit me like breaking through water. "Addison! Addison!"

I looked at him, past the glowing electricity that made the shape of his body, and came back to reality. He looked genuinely scared and everything faded away from me. I let the cloud dissipate and focused on calming myself.

"You-You were glowing again," he said, his voice an octave higher. "I-Fuck-What?"

I furrowed my eyebrows and turned to him, only for him to take a step back. Weird. Did I scare him that much? Was Zed _actually_ afraid of me?

"Dude, relax, it's just me."

"Uh huh," he said disbelievingly. "Adds, you didn't see yourself. It was like…Storm, in that X-Men movie."

"How do you even know so many superhero references? You don't like those movies!"

"I _do_ like those movies and I'm trying to make a point!" he said in exasperation. "It was all fun and games when you were shorting circuits and being just as confused as me but it's really freaky when you know exactly what you're doing and turning rocks into storm clouds. That's not normal!"

"I thought you'd be impressed, not scared!"

"So did I," he admitted. "I-I don't know _why_ it's freaking me out either. It is fucking amazing that you have superpowers, don't get me wrong."

I looked at him expectantly. "But?"

"Don't take this the wrong way or anything—but it's pretty terrifying that you're so…powerful." He winced at his own words. "Not like in a misogynistic way. I mean it like…like you're my best friend. And you're so small and precious and now you've got these powers and…I don't know what I'm trying to say."

"Me neither."

Zed sighed and looked at me. "It's cool, but scary. Let's stick with that."

I nodded in agreement, but couldn't stop myself from thinking about how I was scaring Zed. Me, a tiny, harmless girl, was scaring big strong almost-football player Zed. And Zed wasn't the type of guy to be scared or threatened when a girl is better than him at something. It's Zed, he actively tries to boost everyone up. It's why he didn't make football (technically). Yeah, he worked his hardest, but so did this girl, Lily. She was better than him too, but Zed had overhead the guys saying they just let her try out for the laughs. So he intentionally fucked up on the last day of Try-Outs so they'd have no choice but to take her.

That was the day we first met. He was sulking in the park because he had given up his dream. I thought he was pretty cool. So had Lily. I was ninety percent sure that she had a crush on him but nothing ever happened between them so I never really brought it up.

"Instead of playing with my super cool superpowers," I said, "you wanna go buy some new gear? I now need to replace everything."

"You can keep the board you know," Zed told me.

"You sure?"

"I don't need it." Zed shrugged. "By yes, lets go buy you a helmet. Before you bust your head open on the sidewalk."


	5. Chapter 5

So apparently, on our day off Bree's parents took her to buy a car. That's all fine and dandy, because now I had a friend with a car, who could drive me places instead of me having to get a workout anytime I wanted to get milkshakes. Bree texted me as I was walking into the main entrance and type-screamed everything, ordering me and Zed to meet her in the student parking lot.

The only time I ever went to the student parking lot was one day, freshmen year, when my cousin had to take me home. A lot had changed since then, like the fact that we now had motorcycle specific parking spots. I didn't even know that you could get a license for a motorcycle at this age, but low and behold there were three bikes already parked there and one pulling in.

Zed scoffed from beside me. "Why do you need a motorcycle?" he complained. "Can't just drive a car like a normal kid? Have to be super extra and vroom-vroom all over the place."

I snorted and elbowed him. "Don't be such a lame loser, it's sexy," I joked. "A nice bad boy on a motorcycle. The thrill!"

"Guess I should learn to ride a motorcycle then."

I laughed and shook my head. "I hate you," I said without any real bite.

Zed just laughed and turned to look for Bree. I kept my eyes on the motorcyclist though. The motorcyclist parked in one of the spots, just about two spaces away from where Zed and I were standing, and got off the bike, removing his helmet.

"Oh my god," I gasped. Zed looked at me curiously and I said, "He's actually hot."

Zed followed my gaze to the cool biker dude that I've never seen before, obviously a transfer student. He ran his hands through his very light hair, as he looked around the parking lot like a curious child. It was adorable, and cute, and not what you'd expect from a guy riding a motorcycle, wearing ripped jeans and chuck taylors. His curiosity turned to a more serious look and I couldn't help but wonder what was going through his head. He was looking around like he was judging everyone in the parking lot now.

Motorcycle dude caught me staring at him and grinned at me. I froze for a second; getting caught staring was embarrassing as hell and this super attractive guy just caught me standing in the middle of the parking lot staring hard at him. But he was grinning so I naturally smiled back.

"What the…" Zed muttered.

I glanced at him and couldn't help but squeal. When I looked back at motorcycle dude, his attention was elsewhere. I didn't want our encounter to just mean nothing, and I didn't want things to end up how they did with Zed (that is, too close to get romantic otherwise things would get awkward). I'd rather shoot my shot and miss than lose the opportunity again.

I thrust my board into Zed's legs. "Hold my board, I'm gonna go ask him out," I said decisively.

" _What_!"

I let go and walked awake before Zed could change my mind. I marched across the spaces, nearly getting hit by some kid in my grade (Judy? Jenny? Not important). Motorcycle dude noticed me and grinned again, and as soon as I was close enough, he said, "Hey Blondie."

I smiled back. "Hey," I greeted, looking him up and down and noticing that he had a cute little dimple only in his right cheek, his eyes were blue (like mine!), and his hair was not blonde, but dyed (his roots were showing, which I also found oddly attractive).

"You new here?" I asked.

"Yup, just moved to town a few weeks ago," he said. He held out his hand for me and said, "Finnley McClyde, though most people call me Finn."

I giggled, which wasn't really like me but I also didn't just walk up to new hot boys and start flirting. At least I think I was flirting. I shook his hand and said, "I'm Addison. Addison Davis. I'm a junior here."

He raised an eyebrow and pulled his arm back. "Junior? Senior, though I didn't think people really introduced themselves with their grade levels."

"They don't, it's just something I tend to do when I wanna find out about how all the hot guys are."

Finn looked surprised, by not as surprised as I was by my boldness. _That_ never happened before.

He glanced over my shoulder, probably at Zed. "Your boyfriend know you're flirting with other people?" he asked.

I just laughed. "Zed isn't my boyfriend," I stated. "I'd be a faithful girlfriend, just throwing that out there."

He chuckled and asked, "Oh would you?"

"I would," I stated. "You wanna go out to test that though?"

He chewed his lip and grinned. "I like you Addison. You're not like most girls."

"Save the compliments for our date," I stated. "Friday. I'll let you know more details as they come to me."

"Sounds cool. Want my number?"

"How else would I let you know details?"

He laughed and I pulled out my phone, going to contacts and handing it to him so he could put himself in. It took everything in me to keep all my excitement on the inside. I took my phone back once he finished and excused myself, walking quickly back to Zed. He gave me a questioning smile and in return I gave him an excited smile, walking a little faster. He turned and started walking toward the school and I caught up to him, our backs now to Finn.

"So how'd it go?"

"I asked him out, and he said yes!" I squealed. "I've got a date with a hot biker dude!"

Zed laughed and threw his arm over my shoulder, pulling me into his side. "I'm proud of you," he said, "finally getting out there."

"Finally?"

Zed ignored me and said, "Now while you were hoeing it up, I found Bree. Her car is sick, by the way. It's over here."

* * *

I had decided to try and forget about the 'superpowers.' There were much more important things than possibly saving the world. No one needed saving in Seabrook anyway. It's _Seabrook_ , the worst thing that happens is when the poor try to overthrow the rich (that never happens but it could).

What was important was that I was going on a date. I could be a normal kid. Finn didn't know about my parents, I didn't have to be perfect for him. I wasn't going to let my stupid superpowers ruin my one chance of being normal.

We had decided to go out to a movie, which was great according to Zed, who was helping me get ready (like the good best friend he was).

"It'll be dark, you don't have to talk, and you can share snacks and kiss in the dark theater! It'll be perfect!"

"You know a lot about dates for a guy who's been single his whole life," I joked.

Zed shot me a glare. "You must remember, dear Addy, that the coach doesn't play the game," he told me.

"And what game do you think we're playing here?"

"The game of life, Baby," he said with a wink.

I rolled my eyes and opened my closet. "Well while you're 'coaching me,' you gotta help me pick out an outfit," I said.

Zed got up off my bed and joined me at my closet. He let out a sigh and shook his head. "You really are a mess, aren't you?"

"I don't know what you're referring to, but yes, I am."

Zed laughed, then started shifting through the clothes in my closet, muttering to himself. He wasn't talking to me and even if he was I couldn't hear what he was saying. Though I could imagine he was trying to put an outfit together that a guy would like. Which meant it would be something _he_ would like. And then, well, I couldn't stop myself from thinking about what Zed would like to see me in. Which was ridiculous, because he didn't like me and I had a date with a hot motorcycle dude. All I had to do was forget about Zed and focus on my new man.

Zed turned from my closet, holding a black, off the shoulder cropped top that had colorful stripes across the upper middle (my boob area). He pushed it into my hands and then pulled out a pair of jeans—high waisted, ripped, super cute.

"Okay," I said, nodding. "What jacket would I wear with this?"

"You aren't gonna wear a jacket."

"But it's cold outside."

Zed smirked. "Then you can tell Finn your cold," he said, "and he'll give you his jacket! Or, better yet, he'll put his arm around you."

He was grinning and, even though I was already excited, _his_ excitement spread to me. "You're really sneaky Coach," I said with a devious smirk.

"That's why I'm your best friend."

* * *

Luckily, my parents weren't home. Otherwise they would have lost their shit when Finn showed up on his motorcycle with a spare helmet. It was good that it was just Zed, who was heading home once Finn arrived. We congregated in the driveway of my house for a moment, because Zed refused to let me leave without actually conversing with Finn.

Finn looked really confused when I opened the door and Zed was standing next to me. I just gave him a smile. "Hey Finn."

"Hi," he said, "um, where are your parents? And why is your totally-not-boyfriend in your house?"

"Her parents are at work so I'm filling in," Zed said, smiling. "They don't really know you're a biker dude…and they'll flip when they find out. But I'll butter them up, unless you're an asshole. Then I'll beat you up."

I laughed, and so did Finn, looking rather amused. I turned and grabbed my backpack, stepping out of the house.

"Whatever you say, big guy," Finn said, trying to be friendly with Zed while still saying what was everyone's mind: that he definitely could break Zed's twig ass in half.

Zed laughed and stepped out of my house too, closing the door behind him. He used his key to lock the door and walked with us down to the driveway.

"So you guys are always at each other's houses?" Finn asked.

"Unfortunately," I sighed, "He's obsessed with me. It's pathetic. Like Zed, sweetie, get a life."

"I'll remember that next time you wanna come to my house and play on my SNES." He warned without meaning it. "What movie are you guys seeing?"

"The Nun," Finn answered.

"Oh wow, it looks good, I hope y'all like it," Zed said, trying to act like we hadn't already discussed this earlier and didn't see it together last weekend. But it was part of the plan. Since I've seen the movie, I know all the scary parts. And guys loved damsels in distress, so I could act terrified and get Finn to comfort me. Even though when I saw it with Zed, we were both screaming and Zed needed to be comforted way more than I did.

Zed just nodded slowly, then asked to Finn, "What're you guys eating?"

"Theater food."

I snorted and so did Zed. Finn looked between us in confusion. I patted Finn's shoulder and said, "Were going to the dollar store and buying cheap snacks so we only have to buy popcorn and drinks."

"Isn't that against the rules? Won't you get in trouble, Princess?" Finn asked with an eyebrow raised. It was pretty obvious that he was implying I was a goody-two-shoes.

Zed raised an eyebrow at me. I laughed, because he knew what I was going to say. Because he knew what I was going to say, we both said it at the same time. "You're only in trouble if you get caught!"

I laughed at Zed and I's best-friend-telepathy-moment. I then sighed, composing myself. "Okay, Zed, you have to go," I said. Then, stage whispered to him, "I'm trying to get him to like me."

This time Finn laughed, and took my hand. "Yeah, we should get going," he said. "If we have to stop and get snacks."

Zed smiled and nodded. "Yeah, have fun," he said. "See you tomorrow, Adds."

"Later, have fun with your mom."

"Actually, with your mom." Zed said, waving me off and putting his helmet on. He then jogged to the sidewalk and skated off, heading towards his mom's house. I turned back to Finn and smiled.

"You ever ridden a motorcycle Addison?" Finn asked me.

"Of course not."

He laughed a little and squeezed my hand, sending shivers all through me. He must have felt shivers too because he flinched and exclaimed, "What the hell was that?"

"What?"

He frowned at our still linked hands. "I-That was weird. It was like…when you rub you feet on the carpet and get shocked, but a lot stronger."

My eyes went wide in fear and shock. That wasn't supposed to happen. The weird superpowers were supposed to be a throwaway thing that didn't affect my day-to-day life. But I couldn't even control them.

I just laughed awkwardly. "Weird," I said. "Well we should get going. Snacks. Movie. Let's go."

Finn breathed out a laugh and said, "You're cute, Addison. And yeah, we should go."

* * *

The date went amazing. I accidentally electrocuted him two more times, but we shared popcorn and he gave me his jacket, which I got to keep even after he took me home. My parents were back by then so I made him leave before either of them could make it out of the house. However, they were both waiting for me in the kitchen.

"Addison," Mom greeted. "How was your date? With the motorcycle hoodlum."

I rolled my eyes. "It was lovely," I said, "Finn is very sweet and nice. Ask Zed, they met today."

"Or maybe you could just date Zed. You two spend all of your time together anyway," Mom stated.

"Or you could stay out of my love life. Be happy that I actually went on a date instead of sitting at home and being lame."

"You don't have to date boys to not be lame," Dad said.

I nodded in agreement. "Not just boys. Though Finn is nice. We're going out on Sunday for dinner."

"Sunday? Didn't you guys just go out tonight?" Dad asked,

I nodded and smiled. "Maybe Sunday I'll get a kiss too!" I teased, before running to the stairs and up to my room.

I closed my door, then moved into my bed. My phone buzzed twice but I let it sit there while I relaxed. After the third time I accidentally shocked Finn, I figured I'd better try harder to hide it. I had to channel my inner Elsa—conceal, don't feel, don't let it show. It was like holding in my stomach to look skinny for pictures, except with a ball of energy that wanted to be released.

And the minute I relaxed, my lights flickered, some of them sparking a little, but nothing compared to what had happened at Zed's.. I lifted my hands over my face and saw that my fingers were sparklingly. It was cool. Not as cool as Carol Danvers and her powers but still pretty cool.

Now all I had to do was make my hands stop sparking. Zed and I had been working on my control for the past few days and it came down to not focusing on it. It was like the hiccups; it would go away if you stopped thinking about it. But when I got really emotional—like excited or flustered or anxious— it would act up. And I'd start thinking about it again and I'd lose control.

It was good that I wasn't planning on being like a superhero or anything. I had no idea how to use these powers.

I sighed and rubbed my eyes, tired and ready for sleep. I picked up my phone and saw that I had a text from both Zed and Finn. I smiled, replying to Zed and then sending a few emojis to Finn in response to his message. After, I got up and changed, then crawled into bed.


End file.
